This Is Book’s Music

Ever wanted to hear an album created by hip-hop’s elder statesmen? Look no further than a new collabration between KRS-One and Buckshot, Survival Skills (Duck Down).

The “survival skills” in question are of course surviving in this game known as hip-hop, or at least the financial and commercial game. Both KRS and Buckshot talk about how you really need not only skills, but the knowledge on how to survive in a wicked marketplace, or you’ll end up in someone’s mental cut-out bin before you know it.

At first I wasn’t sure what to expect with this album. I’m a huge fan of both of these MC’s, but what I liked about it was that their input is equally balanced. I call them “elder statesmen” because that’s what they are, and you hear age and real life experiences in their voices, especially in tracks like “Clean Up Crew”, “Connection”, “Thing Of All The Things” (the latter featuring K’naan) and “Amazin’”. KRS is no longer the guy who had Scott La Rock next to him, but you hear someone who has the battle scars, seen the verbal and literal feuds, and isn’t afraid to attack even while he is preaching peace. Then you have Buckshot, whose days as a “Shorty” made him someone to watch and listen to in the mid-90′s. Today, his swagger and sly attitude is still heard in his lyrics, and he’s more confident in his singing that doesn’t go overboard nor is it destroyed by bad sound effects or filters. In fact, “Robot” is a middle finger to Auto-Tune and more specifically to artists who choose to show their lack of talent and skills over a messed up voice effect that had been done, and better, by the likes of Kraftwerk, Afrika Bambaataa, and Roger Troutman. These guys aren’t so much angry as they are pissed at how the music has been molded into something else. One may argue that newer audiences mean a new approach to the music, but these scholars are saying that artists and fans need to take it back to the essence, because not many people today have it or know what it is. When Slug of Atmosphere joints them in “We Made It”, one can only imagine Slug being approved as someone with substance and skills.

A few people on various online boards have said that the cover art is corny and should have never been approved. It might be that, but I also interpret it as two guys who are not afraid to brave the elements. They aren’t just guys who rhyme lazily just because it sounds good with funky beats. To say this is yet another return to the boom bap would be too easy, for fans who know and respect hip-hop will tell you that “the real” has always been amongst us. Yet it’s perhaps not a coincidence that this was released at a time of the music’s uncertainty. What this album becomes is a guidebook full of lessons and tips on how to keep the traditions alive and vibrant. The dawn is not here yet.

About twenty years ago, Q-Tip and his tribe-mates shared with the world a song that featured the sound of the sitar (via Rotary Connection). Twenty years later, Q-Tip offers a video featuring someone who is half Indian. Full circle? Not really, but really, you would be watching this video regardless of what I said. This is Tip with a little help from Willie Nelson‘s homegirl, Norah Jones.

The song is from Q-Tip’s most recent album, The Renaissance, which you can purchase three different ways from CD Universe:
VINYL
COMPACT DISC
MP3

Click each individual icon to buy it in the format of your choice.

If you’ve never heard of the band Garage A Trois, let me define the ingredients that go into this audio stew: Skerik on saxophones; Marco Benevento on piano and keyboards; Stanton Moore, drummer extraordinaire; Mike Dillon on vibes. If you know of their work as individuals or the countless jamming and session work they’ve done in the last decade or so, then you should already be a fan of Garage A Trois. If not, and the concept of these four guys joining each other in the studio is just too much, let me welcome you to “too much”, but in in a good way.

Power Patriot (Royal Potato Family) is an album created by a band who have expanded from their trois set-up that they started out as. Charlie Hunter left a few years ago but has been replaced by the incredible Marco Benevento, and the new chemistry found within is perfect, as their style of jazz goes above and beyond what is expected. That is to be expected since these guys are incredible improvisational musicians, and the kind of spontaneity can be felt and experienced on this new album, which begins with two psychotic tracks that may loosely be called psychedelic jazz. Or if not psychedelic, it definitely combines hints of electronic influences with distortion and rock, to where it doesn’t sound like jazz at all. “Rescue Spreaders” does indeed sound like a rescue mission, as if you get a chance to hear rage, anxiety, anticipation, fear, and strength through music. One is literally sitting on the edge of their seat trying to take it all in and just as it feels it could continue, the band pull a complete 180 and create something with a bit of pop flavor, as if Elton John decided to come into the studio and say “I’d like to join you, mates.” You’ll hear something that sounds like a saxophone, but then it moves into a layer of distortion and it sounds and is played like a guitar. You hear something that sounds like a bass guitar, but is it a synth, or the vibraphone, or something else? You know who’s on this but you smile at the fact that you’re hearing sounds that aren’t in the credits. Imagine if Jazzanova or Jaga Jazzist found some incredible ludes and decided to share it between each other.

The most surprising song is “Purgatory”, which actually starts out moody and maybe melancholy, or maybe it’s trying to set-up the situation. About a minute or so in, it gets dark and ugly and now it’s as if these guys turned into a stoner/sludge metal band.

What you’ll also find throughout Power Patriot is an electronic soundscape, which isn’t dominant but it sounds nothing like what you’d expect from anything in jazz. You’ll hear sounds that could be from ancient 8-bit video games or cell phones, or reverbed elements that seem to last forever, or an electronic (even hip-hop) approach to the production that would make Madlib or The Angel fans proud. It’s mutated jazz, it’s freakish jazz, yet it goes over the rim to where it’s almost not jazz, and perhaps that’s what they were trying to do. That is, to boil over the top and see what drips and for how long and where.

Power Patriot is incredible as is, constructed in style and form that is similar to Gnarls Barkley‘s St. Elsewhere in terms of creativity and adventure. The ending sounds like an ending, but you want it to continue and never stop satisfying. To hear these four creative minds go at it like a militia is insane, and I’m certain that these songs in a live setting will be a much bigger honey-dipped mindfuck.

Three albums in an 18 month period, who is that busy these days? These United States are, and they came out with an album about a month ago called Everything Touches Everything (United Interests). The group are now on tour, so they’re hard at work in promoting themselves and they also have a new video for the title track. First, the tour dates:

10/06 Iowa City, IA The Mill *#
10/07 Chicago, IL Subterranean #
10/09 Louisville, KY WFPK Live Lunch
10/09 Louisville, KY Skull Alley %
10/10 Lexington, KY Al’s Bar
10/11 Athens, OH Mountain Stage
10/21 New York, NY Pianos / Force Field PR Day Party
10/21 New York, NY Pianos @
10/30 Lubbock, TX Bash Riprocks %
10/31 Santa Fe, NM Corazon
11/04 Los Angeles, CA Spaceland $
11/05 Santa Cruz, CA TBA
11/06 San Francisco, CA Hotel Utah $
11/08 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios $
11/09 Seattle, WA High Dive $
11/10 Vancouver, BC Media Club $
11/16 Detroit, MI The Cafe at the Majestic Theater $
11/17 Toronto, ONT Drake $
11/18 Montreal, QC Il Motore $
11/19 Brooklyn, NY Bell House $
11/20 New York, NY Mercury Lounge $
12/31 Denver, CO Hi-Dive

* = w/ Paleo
# = w/ Or, The Whale
$ = w/ Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
% = w/ Jessica Lea Mayfield
@ = w/ Evan Dando

Now, the music video:

If you like the song, you can now download it for free (2.8mb). The CD can be purchased through CD Universe.

You love it, you want it, and if you could you would eat it. I speak of course Foreign Exchange and their brand new video for “I Wanna Know”. CAUTION: The audio on this sounds like it was mastered brickwall style, so watch your volume levels.

The Foreign Exchange – ”I Wanna Know” from The Foreign Exchange on Vimeo.

Fans of experimental/avant-garde music will definitely want to purchase these two releases from No Fun. The first is a split LP between Carlos Giffoni and . Giffoni offers up “Techno” while Whitman donates “070207″. Only 400 copies will be made.

You can order them and other No Fun items by clicking here.

With their forthcoming album, CrownsDown (Anticon) due out in exactly two weeks, Themselves have just announced a co-headlining tour with Eyedea & Abilities. Here are confirmed tour dates for that tour:
11/19 Austin, TX Highball #
11/20 Denton, TX Hailey’s #
11/21 Baton Rouge, LA Spanish Moon #
11/22 New Orleans, LA The Parish Room – HOB #
11/23 Atlanta, GA 529 #
11/24 Chapel Hill, NC Local 506 #
11/25 Washington, DC Rock and Roll Hotel #
11/27 Brooklyn, NY Knitting Factory #
11/28 Cambridge, MA Middle East Downstairs #
11/29 Providence, RI Jerky’s Live Music Hall #
12/01 Toronto, ONT El Mocambo #
12/02 Ann Arbor, MI Blind Pig #
12/03 Chicago, IL Reggie’s #
12/04 Minneapolis, MN Varsity #
12/05 Milwaukee, WI Cactus Club #
12/11 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court
12/12 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge

If you can’t wait that long and you happen to be in or near the vicinity of San Francisco, Themselves will be doing a show tonight (October 6th) at Bottom of The Hill with Busdriver

Comprehend the blend:
Marco Benevento
Skerik
Stanton Moore
Mike Dillon

The idea makes you want to pee upside down, doesn’t it? This is Garage A Trois, and they’re about to drop a new album called Power Patroit (The Royal Potato Family) on October 27th. The group will be doing a few shows in support of the album, and when any of these guys are involved in something, it’s a must-see event. With them together as one, it’s going to be mandatory. Here are the concert dates in support of Power Patroit, which takes them through to the beginning of winter:

November 14 | Bear Creek Festival | Live Oak, FL
November 19 | DBA | New Orleans, LA
November 20 | Chelsea’s | Baton Rouge, LA
November 21 | The Parish | Austin, TX
December 8 | Tractor Tavern | Seattle, WA
December 9 | Nightlight Lounge | Bellingham, WA
December 10 | Doug Fir Lounge | Portland, OR
December 11 | Red Fox Tavern | Arcata, CA
December 12 | The Independent | San Francisco, CA
December 19 | The Bowery Ballroom | New York, NY
December 20 | North Star Bar | Philadelphia, PA
December 21 | The 8X10 | Baltimore, MD

The CD can be pre-ordered now through CD Universe.

Together, Malkovich Music and Sumkid will be known as The Palms Weekend, and it’s going to be a grand time. In honor of how grand it is, they are telling fans that it’s okay to “Order Another Round”. For now, not on them, but with a bit of support of this new project, maybe someday.

SOCAN, Canada’s equivalent of ASCAP and BMI, announced that D-Sisive and Robert Baker were winners of the 4th annual ECHO Songwriting Prize for the song “Nobody with a Notepad”, released earlier this year.

The award involves an independent panel of 10 music community tastemakers selecting five songs they felt best showed the variety and creativity of independent, up-and-coming Canadian songwriters. The voting process happened in September, and with competition that included songs performed by Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains, Timber Timbre, Land Of Talk and Joel Plaskett , this self-proclaimed nobody has been honored for his no-nonsense song. Congratulations.

D-Sisive – Nobody With A Notepad